Ringway | Lone Workers Benefit from Personal Safety Devices

Ringway have been investigating ways to protect their lone workers and keep them safe particularly with regards to verbal or physical abuse from members of the public or in case of a medical emergency.

Following an extensive investigation trailing various mobile devices and tools, the Skyguard lone worker device was selected.

The Skyguard device is discreet and easy to use. It is connected to a user through the Skyguard portal which holds information about the user including any existing medical conditions. There are two functions on the device to raise an alarm, one being the ‘SOS’ button which connects to the Skyguard internal call centre within 30 seconds and the other is a ‘man down’ function which raises an automatic alarm to the Skyguard call centre if the device suffers a sudden impact. If the alarm is activated the call centre will attempt to make verbal communication with the user through the device to check if they require the emergency services. No call will be closed until the call centre ensures the user is OK. If no contact can be made with the user Skyguard will mobilise a response using their in-house security team to attend the location. The device includes a tracker which would allow any response team to locate a user who requires attention.

Skyguard has more than proven its worth on a number of occasions already. During the trials that Ringway carried out the device had to be used for medical assistance, alerting the emergency services who attended the injured party within 7 minutes of activating the device.

Another incident occurred when a Ringway winter maintenance spreader hit a patch of black ice causing it to leave the carriageway, falling onto its side. Although the driver wasn’t seriously injured he was wearing his Skyguard device and pressed the SOS button. He was able to speak to the Skyguard team through the device while waiting for the ambulance which was on site 10 minutes after the incident occurred. Feedback on the Skyguard response from those involved is excellent, highlighting the importance of these devices as a lone working safety measure.

Ringway have bought a total of 450 devices so far and have rolled them out across the Highway infrastructure service business. Ringway Jacobs are also planning to roll these out for similar lone worker tasks.